Alumina-Supported Tungsten and Tungsten-Cerium Catalysts for Oxidative Desulfurization of Simulated Liquid Fuels

According to international standards, the sulfur of fuels used in the transport sector, as one of the most important sources of pollution, should be reduced to around 10 ppmw by 2010. The main reason for ultra-deep desulfurization is environmental problems such as air pollution, acid rain, and concerns for human health. Oxidative desulfurization (ODS) is a supplement to the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process. In the Oxidative desulfurization process, desulfurization of refractory sulfur compounds was carried out under mild operation conditions (low temperature and low pressure). In this study, the performance of catalytic oxidative desulfurization was considered using tungsten and tungsten-cerium catalysts supported by alumina with different compositions of tungsten (W) and cerium (Ce), which were synthesized by incipient wetness impregnation. The effect of aromatic competitive compounds was investigated. The conversion of DBT for 20wt.% W, as the best catalyst, was reached 100% at the temperature of  , the mass ratio of model fuel/catalyst=100, the molar ratio of O/S=5, and reaction time=60 min. The catalysts were characterized by FT-IR and FESEM. The data help explain the satisfactory catalytic performance.